My paleontological career began with my master study at the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeontology, Academica Sinica, Beijing. I obtained commendation from the staff there and published a series of papers in the respected journal Vertebrata PalAsiatica, including an entirely novel phylogeny for the Galeaspida (Agnatha), surpassing in scope and scale phylogenies produced for any other group of extinct jawless vertebrates. This work was particularly welcome because of the importance of the extinct galeaspids for understanding the assembly of the vertebrate bodyplan and also because galeaspids are so poorly known in the West due to their endemic restriction to South-East Asia.

I continued my research with my PhD study in the University of Bristol supervised by Professor Philip C.J. Donoghue. My PhD research is aimed at resolving the anatomy of the head of galeaspids, in particular the gross anatomy of the galeaspid brain. This has entailed getting to grips with running a synchrotron beamline, in order to obtain tomographic scans of the fossils, as well as the complex computer software used to create virtual digital models from the tomographic data. The significance of my work is underlined by the fact that my first paper has been published in the world-leading journal Nature. I am interested in the evolution of vertebrate head and the origin of jawed vertebrates.

I am deeply honored to be winner of 2012 program for Scientist from an Economically Developing Nation Award. Thanks to all of you who made this possible.

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SVP NEWS

As a follow-up to the September live show and radio broadcast that featured work of some SVP members in the Triassic of Bears Ears National Monument (Indian Creek area), ScienceFriday just posted an extensive multimedia-rich digital story on the research there: https://methods.sciencefriday.com/the-mass-extinction-detectives
The story features quotes from a number of SVP members.
Science Friday also produced an accompanying short a...
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The Natural History Museum in London is asking for your help in preserving and making accessible a major palaeontological attraction in London. The Crystal Palace Dinosaurs are a series of some 30 life-size models of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures in Crystal Palace Park. As well as attracting thousands of visitors a year, they have great historical importance as they date from the 1850s, were designed by Sir Richard Owen a...
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